{"id":259548,"date":"2026-05-05T18:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/259548\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:38:09","slug":"8-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-visiting-universal-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/259548\/","title":{"rendered":"8 things I wish I knew before visiting Universal Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to vacation planning, I go all-in. I\u2019m comparing hotels, making dinner reservations weeks in advance, studying a map of the area I\u2019m visiting and packing a travel bag<\/a> full of \u201cemergency\u201d supplies. But as any traveler knows, trips don\u2019t always go according to plan.<\/p>\n

That was especially true on my recent trip to Universal Orlando. I\u2019d previously visited back in 2019, but the parks have changed quite a bit since then. From unexpected fees at hotel check-in to mega crowd levels at Epic Universe, these are some of the things I wish I knew before walking through the gates.<\/p>\n

1. Epic Universe gets extremely crowded<\/p>\n

Epic Universe is the shiny new theme park on the metaphorical Orlando block. Considering that it\u2019s both brand new (it only opened last year) and home to some of the most beloved franchises in the world (like Super Mario and Harry Potter), it\u2019s no wonder it draws huge crowds.<\/p>\n

However, large crowds mean long lines, and nobody likes spending most of their vacation standing in two-hour lines for rides that are over and done with in two to three minutes. I\u2019m not exaggerating when I say that the average wait time for a given ride during my day at Epic Universe was typically around the two-hour mark, sometimes longer. The standby wait time for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry alone remained consistent at four hours while I was there. Yeah, no thanks.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not exaggerating when I say the average wait time during my day at Epic Universe hovered around two hours \u2014 sometimes longer. The standby line for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry alone stayed at four hours while I was there. Yeah, no thanks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s super expensive, but if you\u2019ve got the cash, my number-one piece of advice is to consider buying an Express Pass<\/a> (aka Universal\u2019s \u201cskip the line\u201d pass) for the day. I was able to get on most of the rides at Epic within 30 minutes or less with Express, even when the line was out the door.<\/p>\n

2. Set up the Universal app early<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an app for pretty much everything nowadays, and Universal is no different. While it\u2019s certainly not perfect, it was extremely helpful to have installed while wandering the parks and sitting down to eat. Most of Universal\u2019s quick-service restaurants let you seat yourself and place a mobile order through the app, which they\u2019ll bring straight to your table. No waiting in food lines with other hangry customers is necessary!<\/p>\n

You can also upload your park admission tickets and Express Passes to the app for easy scanning (or fuss over your paper tickets all day like I did). The feature I found most helpful, however, is the wait times tool. This lets you see real-time line updates for rides in your area. You can even set alerts for when a ride reopens after a delay or when a wait time drops below a certain number.<\/p>\n

3. The free ride lockers are tiny<\/p>\n

Seeing \u201cfree\u201d anything today is rare enough, but considering that most theme parks charge upwards of $5 for a safe place to store your belongings during a ride, Universal\u2019s free lockers are a real treat.<\/p>\n

The only problem is that they\u2019re extremely small. When I say small, I\u2019m only talking about the free lockers at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Thankfully, Universal had mercy on us \u201cheavy packers\u201d when designing Epic Universe \u2014 the free lockers there are substantially bigger.<\/p>\n

But the free lockers in the other parks are really only big enough to fit a mini backpack, crossbody bag or fanny pack. If you\u2019re toting a large backpack or purse, I can\u2019t guarantee it will fit in the locker. However, those lockers are wider than they are tall, so as long as you can arrange your belongings to lie flat, you might be able to make it work. Trust me, I\u2019ve seen some serious locker cramming \u2014 it\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

4. Food costs are higher than expected\"Close-up<\/p>\n

I could\u2019ve easily downed three of these mac-and-cheese cones \u2014 and the butterbeer crepe was just as good.<\/p>\n

(Sarah Drolet\/Yahoo)<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think anybody assumes theme park food is going to be cheap, but I honestly wasn\u2019t expecting food costs during my trip to be quite this high either. I found the average cost of a quick-service entr\u00e9e to be around $23 during my visit. This is already pricey enough to feed one person, but if you plan to feed a family, it adds up quickly. Even the cost of snacks from the food stalls lining the walkways was pretty high. Seven dollars for a bag of popcorn? No, thank you.<\/p>\n

I packed a few snacks, like granola bars and chips, to help satisfy some of my munchies throughout the day. That said, I would definitely recommend making room in your budget to buy at least one meal in the park each day. Epic Universe, in particular, has some surprisingly good options. Butterbeer-inspired treats in the Ministry of Magic area and the mac-and-cheese cones in the Isle of Berk are must-eats.<\/p>\n

5. You will get wet on the water rides<\/p>\n

All those warning signs at the entrance to every water ride at Universal Orlando aren\u2019t there for show. I can promise you will get wet on the water rides. I know I did. But there\u2019s a big difference between getting a little damp and getting absolutely drenched. My sister and I both left the log flume and river rapids rides at Islands of Adventure absolutely soaked. Like, we\u2019re talking dripping clothes, stringy hair and waterlogged sneakers.<\/p>\n

The ride designers were very devious in their placements of surprise water guns and waterfalls. You will not escape unscathed. So if you\u2019re not up for spending the next hour or two of park day dripping water everywhere, I\u2019d highly recommend wearing a poncho on the ride. You can bring one from home or purchase one in the gift shops near the water rides. There are also body dryers near some of the water rides, but you\u2019ll have to pay to use them, and they don\u2019t always get you fully dry.<\/p>\n

6. Universal Orlando hotels charge parking fees<\/p>\n

Normally, I\u2019m not the type to spend the extra money to stay on-site at whatever property I\u2019m vacationing at, seeing as off-site hotels are almost always cheaper. This time, however, I decided to stay at one of Universal\u2019s hotels, mainly for the free shuttle services and early park admission.<\/p>\n

And while I had a wonderful stay at Universal\u2019s Terra Luna hotel, I did not enjoy paying $30 per night to park my car in the hotel lot. It just felt like another unexpected expense on top of all the others I had to pay during the trip.<\/p>\n

7. There\u2019s no Express queue for character meet-and-greets<\/p>\n

Because I was only planning to visit Universal Orlando for three days, I decided to spend the extra money and purchase Express Passes<\/a> for each of my park days. Given the insanely long lines at Epic Universe, I\u2019d say it was money well spent \u2014 at least there. The other parks weren\u2019t nearly as busy.<\/p>\n

But one thing to know about Express is that, while it lets you skip the regular lines for rides and live shows, there isn\u2019t an Express queue for character meet-and-greets. I hoped to meet the adorable Toothless animatronic or some of the costumed Nintendo characters, but the lines were simply too long.<\/p>\n

If you have your heart set on meeting Toothless, in particular, I\u2019d strongly recommend making a beeline for Isle of Berk right when the park opens. They\u2019re usually out early for meet-and-greets. Otherwise, be prepared to wait up to two hours.<\/p>\n

8. Ride delays can (and will) happen <\/p>\n

Like I mentioned, Epic Universe is still relatively new. Given that the rides are practically brand-new, I was surprised by how often they were delayed throughout the day. Every single ride at Epic was either down or delayed at some point during my visit. And while you won\u2019t be kicked out of line when something goes wrong, it just adds to the already out-of-control wait times at this theme park.<\/p>\n

The two rides I noticed went down the most were Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry (this ride gave us a lot of trouble during my visit) and Fyre Drill, which is a relatively simple water gunner boat ride in the Isle of Berk area. The good news is that they rarely stay down for more than two hours, and you can use the Universal app to set an alert to let you know when a ride opens again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to vacation planning, I go all-in. I\u2019m comparing hotels, making dinner reservations weeks in advance,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6113,18577,139,141,140,3435,3434,6114],"class_list":["post-259548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-epic-universe","tag-harry-potter","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-universal","tag-universal-orlando","tag-universal-studios-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}